Last Night's On-Air Squabble!

With her world tour and the launch of her new perfume, it's surprising that Taylor Swift has time to create new music, but she has -- quite a bit, in fact. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about the progress of her next album, the singer revealed, "I’ve written 25 songs so far, so it’s coming along really well. I’ve been writing a lot, and I like to take two years to make a record. We’re at the end of year one and I still have a year left to go to write. It's looking really great" The album is due sometime in 2012, likely in the fall.
Taylor also discussed her new scent, Wonderstruck, crediting Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani -- two other pop perfumers -- as her specific inspirations for creating her own fragrance. Discussing her personal fashion choices, Taylor says that she has "considered on certain days" making a drastic change her signature blonde locks. "I think about either cutting bangs, or cutting it," she told the Hollywood Reporter. "But I don’t think I’m ever gonna cut it drastically -- at least not in the near future, because my publicist right now is sort of twitching with fear." She added, "I don’t want to shock people, that’s never been the goal. But it might be nice to change things up every now and then.”
Should you stay away from buying these items??
Standalone GPS SystemsThe days of spending $200 or more on a standalone GPS device won’t last much longer, analysts say. “Portable navigation devices like those sold by TomTom and Garmin will probably not be sold in 2020, just because mobile phones will have taken on that function themselves and because GPS systems will be standard equipment in cars,” says Charles S. Golvin, an analyst at Forrester, a market research firm. As a result, there won’t be much of a need to buy a product whose only function is to tell you directions. If there is a demand for these GPS systems, it will likely come from a very specific segment of consumers. “Maybe you could argue there will be a market for guys climbing Mount Everest or long-distance truckers or the military, but for the vast majority of consumers, standalone GPS systems will be irrelevant and redundant,” Baker says. |
E-ReadersThe e-reader has already undergone significant changes in its short history, evolving from a product with a keyboard to one with a touchscreen and more recently being integrated into a kind of a tablet-hybrid, but according to Golvin, the market for e-readers will mostly disappear by the end of the decade. “The tablet will largely supplant the e-reader in the same way that the iPod increasingly gets displaced by smartphones,” Golvin says. “Tablets will take on the e-reader function of handling magazine, newspaper and book reading.” In essence, spending money on an e-reader that can only handle reading when tablets can do this and more will come to seem as useless as buying a GPS system that can only look up directions when other technology does this as well. Just how small the e-reader market becomes may depend somewhat on advancements in display technology. One of the biggest incentives for consumers to buy a pure e-reader is to have an e-ink display (like reading from a book) rather than a backlit display (like reading from a computer screen), but according to Golvin, manufacturers are already working on ways to merge the two reading experiences and create a tablet that doubles as an authentic e-reader. Even then, there may be still be some e-readers on the market at the beginning of next decade, but not many. “It could be that by 2020 you can still buy a super cheap e-reader for $20, but by and large, the volume of sales will be so close to zero as to be indistinguishable, like CD players are now,” he says. |
Feature PhonesSeveral of the products that are likely to be phased out will ultimately be the victim of advances to smartphones, and none more directly than feature phones. Tim Bajarin, a technology columnist and principle analyst with Creative Strategies, predicts that 80% of all phones sold in 2015 will be smartphones and every phone sold in 2018 will be a smartphone. This rapid decline will come about thanks to a drop in prices for consumers and an increase in revenue opportunities for carriers. “Even today, the money that is made is not on the phone itself but on the services,” Bajarin says, noting that carriers will opt to “fade out” their feature phone option in favor of smartphones with more services. |
Low-End Digital CamerasWhen Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S, smartphone competitors probably weren’t the only ones beginning to sweat. Digital camera makers also have much to be worried about. Apple’s newest phone has a killer 8-megapixel camera that takes in more light and records video at 1080p HD video. Until recently, those kind of specs were unique to digital cameras, but increasingly smartphones are taking over the market. “Flip cameras went bye-bye and now low-end camera functions are being taken over by smartphones,” says Rob Enderle, principle analyst for the Enderle Group. Going forward, consumers will have less incentive to carry around a camera when they already have a phone in their pocket that takes quality pictures. “The point-and-shooters – and particularly the cameras that sell for under $200 – will eventually go away and be replaced by cellphones that do the same thing.” On the other hand, Enderle predicts more expensive and high-tech cameras may have a brighter future, though not by much, as a smaller market of photo enthusiasts seek out professional-quality cameras that go above and beyond what’s offered on a phone. |
DVD PlayersDVD players are in the process of being phased out now by Blu-ray players and will likely be erased from the consumer landscape by the end of the decade. “The DVD player should be replaced by digital delivery,” says Ian Olgeirson, a senior analyst at SNL Kagan, who points to streaming movie services like Netflix as being the future. “Blu-rays and whatever the next generation high-end movie format emerges could prolong the lifespan because of challenges around streaming, but eventually the disc is going to be phased out.” The idea of placing a disc into a DVD player to watch a movie will eventually seem as outdated as placing a record on a turntable, which brings us to the next product on our list… |
Recordable CDs and DVDsUsing CDs and DVDs to view and store content will soon be a thing of the past. “CDs are clearly not going to make it over the next 10 years because everything will shift over to pure digital distribution, so all those shiny discs will be gone,” Bajarin says. This will be due in part to more streaming options for music and movies and a greater reliance on digital downloads, combined with more efficient storage options for consumers, including USB drives, external hard drives and of course the cloud. “All a CD is is a medium for distribution of content … and within 10 years, you won’t need a physical transport medium,” Bajarin says. |
Video Game ConsolesPopular video game systems such as the Wii, PlayStation and Xbox may still be in homes next decade, but they will look much different. Rather than buy a separate console, Enderle expects that consumers will instead buy smart televisions with a gaming system built into it, not to mention tablets and smartphones that will continue to ramp up their gaming options. “It looks like analog game systems won’t make it until the end of the decade,” Enderle says. “You are already seeing the Wii have a tough time holding on to the market and PlayStation has been struggling for a while.” The gaming systems that will succeed in the future will be those that manage to move away from being focused solely on video games and more on other entertainment options such as movies, evolving from a traditional game console into more of a set-top box. |
Thanks to ABC EPREP
A few weeks ago, Kelly Clarkson's new song "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" started showing up online, so she took it upon herself to post the official version online, saying, "I want you to hear the real thing." Now she's had to do it again with another new song, "You Love Me." After that track started popping up online, Kelly tweeted, "I'm going to start leaking the real stuff, with help from some friends. Check out 'You Love Me' from #Stronger out 10/24." She included a link to a YouTube video with the official version of the soulful track. How many more songs will Kelly reveal before her new album, Stronger, arrives in stores on the 24th? Stay tuned.
Here's to a great week!!!
An idea isn't worth that much. It's the execution of the idea that has value. If you can't convince one other person that this is something to devote your life to, then it's not worth it.
Joel Spolsky, Sink or Swim, SXSW 2006
Madonna has one, so why shouldn't Cher have her own comic book as well? Bluewater Productions, who brought you the Madonna comic book, as well as books on everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Taylor Swift to Britney Spears, is bringing out a Cher comic as part of its Female Force series. The book, due in December, tells how "the woman born Cherilyn Sarkisian came to be known by one name: Cher!," according to Bluewater. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.com.
Bluewater's publisher says in a statement, "We have been creating the biographies of the famous...for almost two years and it was only a matter of time before we got to this icon. Her life has been marked failures and successes, but she still stands boldly for herself and for her friends and we had to tell her story."
The man who wrote the comic, Marc Shapiro, notes that Cher's life "reads like a comic book," and adds, "So much of what Cher has experienced is so flamboyant, over the top and just plain out there. She has been very much the real-life equivalent of a superhero." But with better costumes, of course.
Katy Perry promised fans that she'd reveal the name of her new fragrance on Twitter Wednesday and made good on her promise. In keeping with the feline theme of her first perfume, Purr, the new fragrance is called....Meow. Speaking about the perfume, Katy writes on Twitter, "She's very sweet and inspired by magical place, CANDYFORNIA!" "Candyfornia" was the name of the imaginary, candy-filled world that Katy inhabited in the video for "California Gurls."
Katy asked fans to guess the name of Meow before she revealed it, and one lucky fan who guessed it has won a cool prize -- he'll be meeting Katy in person at the fragrance's launch event in December.
Taylor Swift has been named Billboard's Woman of the Year, the youngest artist ever to receive that honor. She'll be feted at the magazine's annual Billboard Women in Music event on December 2 in New York City. Taylor's amazing list of accomplishments have earned her the honor, including numerous platinum albums, sold-out tours, armloads of awards and a string of hit singles.
Billboard Editorial Director Bill Werde [wordy] said in a statement, "Taylor has shown the power of good songwriting with music that has transcended genres, and we're thrilled to recognize all of her successes over the past year by honoring her with the Billboard Woman of the Year Award." He added, "At the young age of 21, Taylor has already made a major impact on music and has been an incredible role model for aspiring singers/songwriters and young women everywhere. I look forward to watching her career continue to flourish in the years to come."